The historic home of the Hibees will host a production from Edinburgh’s famous Fringe festival later this year for the first time.

And fans have been given the opportunity to star in the show either by joining a community choir set up for the play or by auditioning for around 20 acting roles.

The play will look at the first 50 years of the Leith club’s existence which includes their first league title and first two Scottish Cup wins.

Up to 150 people are expected to watch each performance of the show, to be staged during the second week of the Fringe, which will have to be scheduled to accommodate any home matches.

The play is being developed by a Leith-based theatre company, Strange Town, which won huge acclaim for a show created to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gretna rail disaster.

Hibs were formed in 1875 out of a Catholic Young Men’s Society set up 10 years earlier by Father Joseph Hannan, a priest at St Patrick’s Church in Edinburgh in 1875, to help tackle social problems in the area.

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The Cowgate area of the city was known as Little Ireland, due to an estimated 25,000 immigrants living in its slums.

Father Hannan was approached by one of the members of the St Patrick’s branch of the society, Michael Whelahan, who had been watching football being played on the Meadows, with the idea of creating a new club.

The priest liked it so much he agreed to manage the new outfit, named after the Roman name for Ireland.

The play has emerged out of a “GameChanger,” an initiative launched by Hibs, its community foundation and NHS Lothian to try to tackle social and health inequalities in the city.

It will be staged inside the concourse of one of the stadium’s four stands.